Iku Ze
by omegafire17
Summary: With Krawl still around, Rallen and Jeena are still patroling. But what happens Rallen gets knocked out cold during a fight? Find out ;
1. Patrol

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Spectrobes in any way

**Rating:** T

**Krux may be gone, but the Krawl are still around, so Rallen and Jeena are still on patrol in the Kaio system. So after a 'minor' infestation shows up, and Rallen gets hurt, what will happen next? Read and find out ;)**

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The Nanario Planetary Patrol Cruiser flew slowly through space, in orbit above Wyterra, which had recently gotten a ring from the ruins of the destroyed Krawlosphere. It's co-driver however, was bored.

"Remind me again, why are we patroling Wyterra?" Rallen sighed, idly scratching Komainu behind his round ears, driving with his other hand.

"Because the Krawl are still around, Rallen" Jeena answered faintly, her hands going across the board, doing a check-up of some sort. She glanced at him as she did so. "I know patrol work is boring, but it's necessary"

"We defeated Krux a week ago, and we haven't seen one Krawl in all that time" he lightly retorted, looking out the window at the planet's ring.

"Stop exaggerating, Rallen" she said seriously, looking at him. "We defeated a small group of Krawl not two days ago"

"And it was great kicking butt again" he said, chuckling. "But doing nothing for extended periods... I'll go insane sooner or later here"

Jeena sighed, holding a few fingers to her forehead, her eyes closed. "Hopeless" she breathed. "My partner is completely hopeless"

"I heard that" he said lightly.

"Good" she said, smiling to herself.

There was a comfortable silence afterward, during which Rallen used both hands to pet Komainu. There was nothing (literally) in the ship's way, and it was was still moving forward, so he didn't need to steer just yet, but he kept his eye on it. At some point, he looked at Wyterra's new ring, then slowly an idea came to his brain... a way to relieve the boredom, at least for a little while.

He reached for the controls with one hand...

"Don't even think about it, Rallen" he heard, making him jerk back his hand, staring at Jeena. She sat there, turned toward him in her chair, her arms crossed.

"Oh come on, Jeena!" he said, turning toward her. "Don't tell me you're psychic now!"

"I'm not" she said lightly, tilting her head with a small smile. "But when you get that look on your face, and you reach for the controls-"

"But I wasn't gonna do anything dangerous!" he pleaded, though in his case, wasn't actually quite pleading.

She blinked slowly, but she wasn't entirely convinced as she looked at him.

"It's true" he said, then he gestured out the window, toward the planet's ring. "I was bored, so I thought we could simply fly inside the ring, see the view from inside and dodge some debris... maybe even get some readings you couldn't get otherwise?" he continued, thinking up the last one on the fly.

While that last part did get the slightest interest in her expression, she still remained surprised as she looked at him. He wasn't quite sure what to say, or do, so he simply sat there.

"For a minute there" she said finally, then she smiled. "I thought you were someone else, Rallen... you're usually all dive-in headfirst without looking after all"

"Hey, you of all people know there's more to me than that!" he interjected lightly.

"Sometimes I wonder though" she said, then she shook her head, turning back to her displays. "But I think we will go ahead with your idea, Rallen... but only because you mentioned possible readings"

"Hey, whatever works for ya" he said cockily, veering the ship to their right, slowly but carefully. In doing so, he missed the look Jeena briefly gave him... and he also missed how it softened for a moment, before it went back to her work.

So Rallen piloted the NPP cruiser through the floating debris, making sure to take a good look around. The Krawlosphere had been ghastly when it was 'alive', but frozen as it was now, there was an eerie beauty to the ice-coated fragments now. It was something, both good and bad, to be surrounded by the floating chunks. He waited a few minutes, then he glanced at Jeena. "So... anything?"

"Readings stable, sporadic energy signatures here and there, no unindentified anything" she read, looking across her readouts.

"So..." he said slowly. "Nothing new, or interesting?"

"Yet" she added, then she glanced at him with a smile. "But I'm glad to see you're learning how to understand techno at the most basic level, Rallen"

"Well, I do try" he said, chuckling, then he looked a very minor warning thing on his side. "Though it looks like some pieces are being pulled in by Wyterra's gravitational field..." he said slowly.

"Must have gotten dislodged by space debris" she said lightly, still looking across her readouts. "They'll either burn up, or become craters... but if they become craters, keep an eye on those readouts, Rallen. This was once part of the Krawlosphere"

"Hmm" he said, studying his readouts. "Let's see... most burning up, 200 smaller ones about to impact... and 99% of the debris still in stable orbit"

As soon as he finished, warning sirens sounded across the ship. In addition, red lights flashed across both their boards.

"What's going on?" he said quickly, taking the controls and stopping the ship. "Tell me, Jeena!"

"Krawl" she said tersely, programming the coordinates into his station. "A large concentration of them, right near Radese's village. Source: meteor fragments"

"Then hang on" he said, plugging in the coordinates, along with full speed. _"Good, some real action"_ he thought, grinning.

Within seconds, they were out of the ring, and quickly homing on in the Krawl infestation.

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**Good for an intro, I think :)**

**Next time, they'll go down and face the Krawl infestation :)**

**Leave a review.**


	2. Krawl Fight

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Spectrobes in any way

**Rating:** T

**Krux may be gone, but the Krawl are still around, so Rallen and Jeena are still on patrol in the Kaio system. So after a 'minor' infestation shows up, and Rallen gets hurt, what will happen next? Read and find out ;)**

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Their cruiser flew pretty fast, hovering over their usual spot before long.

"No" Jeena muttered in frustration. "No! Krawl have overrun our landing zone!"

"Well then, let's park the ship anyway and squish them!" he responded, already preparing to do just that.

"No!" she immediately countered, shaking her head. "What about the ones we don't squish, Rallen? They could attack the ship and leave us stranded!"

He groaned, lightly hitting his fist against the armrest. There had to be SOME way of getting down there!

Wait... didn't they have _another_ method of flight?

"I'm finding us another landing zone" she said, already fast at work doing so.

"No time for that, Jeena!" he said, immediately jumping up and running. The shocked exclaimation "Rallen, where are you going!" followed behind him, and he turned with a grin, opening the side-door. "What I do best" he answered simply, opening the door, a gust of wind blowing inside hard. "See you on the ground!"

"Rallen!" she yelled out, quickly putting the ship on autopilot, then running to the open door where Rallen had jumped. "Rallen, you idiot!" she yelled down at him, the wind whipping viciously at her pink hair.

Even with the vicious wind, she could still hear his exhilarated "Whoo-hoo!" at free-falling. Then about two seconds later, a bright white light shoot out of his Cosmolink, which then turned into Pegatinum; a graceful flying Spectrobe, who left rainbows where it's wings went.

She sighed in annoyance. "I'm gonna kill him later" she muttered half-seriously, stepping back a bit, then jumping out herself.

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"Whoo-hoo!" Rallen yelled out with a laugh, finding freefall to be exhilarating. He only let himself enjoy it for a moment though, then he summoned Pegatinum, the winged Spectrobe soon flying almost directly underneath him.

He aligned himself carefully, like he's practiced in a holo-simulator, then he landed on the Spectrobe's back. The landing wasn't _quite_ as gentle as he'd have liked, but at least he avoided one spot in particular...

He chuckled, grinning. "All right, let's kick some Krawl butt!" he called out, but a heavy _thump_ directly behind him startled the both of them.

"Rallen, if we weren't a hundred feet in the air right now, you'd be dead already!" he heard, making him relieved. Jeena had elected to join him in Krawl Hunting, instead of just waiting for him to clear out the landing zone.

"Yeah, what else is new!" he called back cockily, then he steered Pegatinum downward. In doing so, he missed the annoyed sigh Jeena let out... but he did NOT miss the fact that she wrapped her arms around his waist, and tightly.

Normally he'd have ignored it or playfully said she liked him afterward. But now, after the hug she had given him... things were a little different.

Pegatinum continued flying downward, Rallen angling him toward a tree. Getting himself ready to jump, he waited... then at the right moment, jumped off the Spectrobe's back. He and Jeena (who had seen what he was gonna do) landed with a loud rustle in it's branches, not that the Krawl gave it any second glance.

Jeena pushed aside a branch, watching the Krawl below. "Let me guess, you're just gonna charge in without a plan?" she said, noting their numbers and placement.

"No" he said simply, making Jeena stare directly at him. He merely grinned, "I'll jump out and draw their attention, then you nail them from the sidelines... then after that, both of us kick some Krawl butt!"

She continued staring at him, blinking. "Rallen, are you okay?" she asked, touching a hand to his forehead.

He blinked, looking cross-eyed at her hand on his forehead. "Uh, yeah, why?" he said.

She withdrew her hand, still staring at him, but less intensely. "Rallen actually came up with a plan..." she said, more-or-less to herself, then she giggled. "I never thought I'd see the day"

"Well enjoy the moment quickly, because we're wasting time" he said, gesturing at the Krawl below.

She sighed, shaking her head. "My partner" she muttered to herself, glancing at him.

"Okay, times up!" he shouted, getting a running start and jumping out of the tree.

"Iku Ze!" he shouted, his Cosmolink flashing brightly. Out of that flash of light, Rydrake appeared, fanning out his wings widely. Rallen easily landed on his back, in his hands appearing the Ryga Sword and Sabo Shield, respectively.

Rydrake slammed into the ground with a roar, spinning as he did so, Rallen jumping off afterward. He attacked this group of three with his sword, sending them flying and freezing one.

"Go!" he commanded, Rydrake instantly teleporting and slashing his wing at the frozen Krawl, slicing it in half. (The ice, not the Krawl itself... though it did dissolve afterward) Both of them spun around at this group coming up behind them.

Then they dissolved after a barrage of shots.

He glanced up with a smirk, seeing Jeena in the tree, smoke coming out of the front end of her Flame Blaster. She wore a small smirk as well, looking in his direction. "Save some for me, Rallen!" she called out, then she jumped off the tree as well.

Her Cosmolink glowed as well, and out of it came Yagizora, who gave a mystical shrill upon summon. Jeena easily landed on it's back, Yagizora easily landing without a hitch, shaking it's rainbow horns.

"If you can keep up!" he called playfully, laughing as he ran toward the next group of Krawl, Rydrake directly behind him.

She could keep up, as he knew very well. So while he and Rydrake slammed through Krawl left and right, drawing attention, Jeena and Yagizora rammed through the distracted Krawl, she drive-by shooting them all. Very soon, none were left, in their landing zone area at least.

Now all they had left was that clearing by the village... should be fun.

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**Was interesting writing this part :)**

**Still, writing more about it may be repeating myself, so next time we'll skip to waking up after injury. And what happens after that ;)**

**Leave a review.**


	3. Waking Up

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Spectrobes in any way

**Rating:** T

**Krux may be gone, but the Krawl are still around, so Rallen and Jeena are still on patrol in the Kaio system. So after a 'minor' infestation shows up, and Rallen gets hurt, what will happen next? Read and find out ;)**

* * *

Rallen groaned a bit, touching a hand to head, which hurt a lot. He slowly sat up as he rubbed his head hard, holding himself up with his other hand. After he recovered enough, he made sure he was okay, which he was: no blood, no injuries... just a massive bruise on his head.

_"Guess I was knocked out cold"_ he thought to himself, half-opening his eyes. His vision didn't come right away, but it did come back, bit by bit. What he saw surprised him.

He was back on the ship, laying (well, sitting now) on a bed. By his side, Jeena sat, leaning over the bed, her head to the side and her eyes closed. She breathed faintly at regular intervals, but that was it... she was asleep.

How long had he been out?

He looked at Jeena, still rubbing his head, then he smiled faintly. She'd been worried about him, even falling asleep at his side...

Even as he thought that, Jeena began to stir slowly.

He froze, starting to panic quietly. Luckily, his on-the-fly thinking came to the rescue, and gave him two options. One; stay awake and go from there. Two; pretend to be asleep and see what happens.

He quickly decided on the later, closing his eyes, the only thing still moving being his breathing muscles. And now that his eyes were closed, he could only rely on hearing and anything he felt.

He heard some small sounds; the results of Jeena waking up, silence for a little... then a small sound. "Still out cold... well, at least his thick head protected him"

_"Hey!"_ he thought indignately, but he managed not to react at all.

Some movement, possibly her standing up? Footsteps... "Still, you scared the heck out of me, Rallen" he heard, only much closer this time. Did she move to the other side of the bed, where she could stand closer to him?

_"So she does care about me"_ he thought, thinking he could use that later, somehow. He kept his face impassive, like he was asleep.

"And I don't know what I'd do without you..."

It took all of Rallen's willpower not to raise an eyebrow at that whispered comment. _"Jeena?"_ he thought, curious.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then there was some pressure on the bed beside him... Jeena had sat down by him, most likely looking right at him. He kept his face 'normal', but he was VERY interested right now.

Slowly, the pressure beside him changed slightly... but he couldn't tell what she was doing exactly. Seconds passed, then the next thing he knew, he felt breathing over his face.

He started freaking out internally. Jeena had leaned forward, and now her face was inches above his! Wait... was she planning to kiss him or something?

Sure he'd joked about that (he was him after all), but was it actually about to happen?

At the same time, his on-the-fly thinking came up with more options he could do. One; lean up and kiss her there and then. Two; simply speak and startle her. Three; do nothing.

He quickly discarded the first two. They'd only seriously freak her out, then get her angry at him... and he didn't want that (Playful banter was one thing, true anger was another). So... he waited, pretending to be asleep.

Her breathing continued for a full minute, she seemingly deciding on what to do next. It was the longest minute of Rallen's life, with the effort to keep from reacting.

She leaned forward...

And kissed his cheek.

Somewhere he felt disappointment that she didn't kiss his lips, but that was quickly pushed away by the shock that she kissed him at all. Sure she'd decided at the last second not to give a first kiss, but it meant that she _liked_ him!

She slowly withdrew from him, sighing. Then she got up, and walked out of the room, though she did pause halfway between that. The swish of the door closing reached him afterward.

His eyes snapped open, and he starting breathing heavily, though he made sure to be quiet. That was the most interesting five minutes he'd ever experienced.

But what to do about it? He looked at the closed door, trying to think.

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_15 minutes later_

Rallen hesiatated at the door, peeking around the door at Jeena, who was at her usual seat at the controls. This was so unlike him, but for something serious like romance, even he couldn't just rush in without thinking. Not on the first steps... that was just asking for trouble.

But luckily for him, that period of hesiatation didn't last too long. So he slowly breathed in and out, stepping around the door, which closed behind him silently (he thanked it for doing so).

As he slowly stepped toward her, he looked at the back of her pink hair. He could never get enough of seeing it, though he never showed that desire outwardly. He eventually stopped just behind her chair, slowly trying to reach for her shoulder.

Just as he did, Jeena stood up and turned toward him.

Both of them freaked out at the same time: "AH!" they cried out, though only Rallen backed up a bit in his shock.

"Rallen!" she cried out, blinking several times. "When did you wake up?"

"Uh..." Rallen said, briefly at a loss of what to say. "Just now?"

She slowly relaxed, and gave him a slight smile. "Good to know, you had me worried" she said seriously.

He grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I guess my thick head protected me" he said cockily, with slight emphasis on 'thick head', just to see what happened.

She blinked slightly, but other than that, she appeared not to think anything was up. "Good thing you have one, Rallen" she said, smirking slightly. "Otherwise you'd be dead by now"

_"More playful banter, huh?"_ he thought, grinning mentally. "True" he admitted, then tilted his head. "But you're the one who kissed my cheek"

Jeena instantly became flustered, her eyes wide, stammering. "What... how... how did you know that?" she breathed.

"I was only pretending to be asleep when you did so" he said, smiling at her. "It was quite interesting"

"Oh, so you scared me for nothing!" she said heatedly, looking at him, her eyes hard.

"Let me finish" he said quite seriously, which was enough to get her to blink once. "I woke up shortly before you did, and when you started waking up, I panicked a little... but I didn't know what you were gonna do"

She continued to stare at him, her arms crossed. "And?" she asked bluntly.

"And I did like it" he said simply, tilting his head. "Did you?"

Her angry act dissolved, and she went back to flustered. "Uh... well..." she stammered slightly.

He smiled, then he stepped closer, making her blink. He took that as a good sign, and pressed on. "Jeena, we've been partners for years" he said simply, and seriously. "Perhaps... all this time... we've both liked each other beyond that"

She stood there, blinking once as she looked at him, then she smirked. "Rallen, you keep going like that, you're gonna sound sappy" she said seriously. "And I've always loved how you aren't like that"

"So you do love me" he said cockily, smirking.

"Maybe" she said, then she giggled slightly. "But that's the Rallen I know"

"But I can still be serious when I need to" he said, then he tilted his head. "So Jeena... since you love me, and I love you, how about a kiss right here?" he said in his usual way, ending with a finger on his lips.

"Okay, Tomorrow" she said, stepping past him.

"I understand that you wouldn't want- wait, tomorrow!" Rallen started saying, only for Jeena's response to sink in. Did she just say they'd kiss!

"Yeah, Rallen" she said, like it was no big deal. As she said it, she ran her fingers over a computer panel. She smirked faintly at him. "Should give you plenty of time to prepare"

And with that, she turned and walked into another room on the ship.

Rallen stared after her, blinking. For once, he was at a loss for words.

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**Oh Jeena :D In addition to sighing at her parnter's antics, she loves to mess with him... should be an interesting day tomorrow ;)**

**Leave a review.**


	4. Kiss

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Spectrobes in any way

**Rating:** T

**Krux may be gone, but the Krawl are still around, so Rallen and Jeena are still on patrol in the Kaio system. So after a 'minor' infestation shows up, and Rallen gets hurt, what will happen next? Read and find out ;)**

* * *

Rallen piloted the cruiser through space, aiming for a pass over the system. He'd done this so many times he'd probably do it perfectly in his sleep, let alone blindfolded... so naturally, he could do it while heavily occupied.

Rallen sighed a bit, glancing at Jeena's empty chair beside him. "I can handle things easily, especially when I see them coming" he muttered to himself. "But this is torture when I don't know when it will come exactly"

"It must be working then"

Rallen jumped a bit, startled. Jeena stood there behind him with a small smile, two glasses of water in her hands. Simple, but just what he needed, now that he thought about it.

"Oh... it's just you, Jeena" he said, taking one quickly.

She giggled faintly, downing her glass all at once, setting the empty glass aside afterward. "And you're fidgeting, Rallen" she said, a hand on her hip. "That isn't like you"

He was halfway through drinking, but that comment made him splutter a bit, so he quickly put the glass beside him. "Hey!" he replied indignately, standing up. "Romance is serious, so even I can't rush into it!"

"Well, that's surprising, coming from you" she said, smiling as she looked at him, stepping closer. "Sweet, but surprising"

Her step forward made him a bit nervous, so he quickly covered himself: "Of course, this behavior is only temporary" he said cockily. "Once I've done it a few times, I'll be back to normal"

"I should hope so" she said, stepping even closer, then yanking him very close. "It's that normal you I fell in love with"

"So you love me?" he said, both cockily and seriously, but not stepping away.

"Yes I do" she answered simply, smiling. "And you love me as well"

"Uh... how did you know that?" he said, caught off-guard.

"Because a girl can tell" she said, winking once as she smirked. "Plus, your on-the-fly plans have actually gotten the most basic thinking-ahead steps"

"They have?" he answered, raising an eyebrow. He couldn't really think about when he'd done that...

"They have" she answered, then her hands went to his shoulders. "You still leap without looking, but I've found there's a certain... thrill in that" she continued with a smile, her hands slowly moving, wrapping around his head.

"Yeah, it's awesome" he answered with a chuckle, but he got serious afterward, slowly placing his hands at her waist. "And I've found your thinking abilities to be appealing, instead of boring like I would have thought"

"Coming from you, that's WAY past complienting" she said, giving him that look she always did.

"Yeah, it is" he said, then he sighed. "Can we just kiss now?"

She giggled a bit, and while he couldn't be sure, it sounded playful. "Oh fine" she breathed, then tilted her head. "Just one more thing"

He just barely supressed a groan, but he slowly nodded. "What is it, Jeena?"

"You can be your normal self all you like" she said seriously, still giving him that look. "But if you don't stop when I tell you to... well, you've gonna be in trouble, to put it lightly"

"Oh, stopping me from getting too forward" he said cockily, just to see what happened. "I get it"

Her expression didn't change, but there MIGHT have been the faintest of red on her cheeks, for a split second... but he could never be sure.

He chuckled, going serious again. "Somehow, I wouldn't have expected anything less of you, Jeena" he said gently.

Her expression softened, smiling at him. "Good" she said. "Now come here, Rallen"

"With pleasure" he said, closing his eyes and leaning in.

When Jeena's lips touched his, he might as well have died... well no, not really, but it was just an expression. He was enjoying the feel and taste of her lips so much, he wondered why he hadn't done this sooner! He didn't open his mouth or anything fancy, not yet, but he held Jeena close to him.

Eventually, they pulled apart, their eyes opening. Both of them looked at each other, their hands still where they left them.

Jeena smirked, then she pulled him back for more. And he didn't mind one bit.

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**And done :) RallenXJeena is just so cute, so I hope you enjoyed this fanfiction. Plus, I really hope they were close to their real personalities.**

**Leave a review.**


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